Using the SurveyToGo Permissions and Security Model

 

Overview

The Security Model allows you to control access to SurveyToGo Studio by defining roles and assigning permissions at both the organization and project levels.

With the Security Model, you can:

• Create custom security roles with access to specific nodes in the management tree.

• Configure the permission level for each section using None, Read, Write, or Full access.

• Assign Studio users or user groups to either the built-in roles or custom roles that you create.

• Define organization-level and project-level roles to control access to different parts of the management tree.

To manage security roles and permissions, expand the Organization node and select Security.

   

• Security Roles – Organization and Projects roles that provides the user access to the different nodes.
• Security Assignments – Assignment of the Organization Roles for a specific user or group. 

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Security Roles

SurveyToGo supports two types of security roles:

Organization Roles

Organization roles control access to organization-level features and settings. These roles do not grant access to the Customers & Projects node.

Examples of organization-level resources include:

• Users

• Surveyors

• Groups

• GPS Tracking

• Organization settings

• Other organization-wide administration features

Project Roles

Project roles control access to a specific project and its associated resources. Permissions assigned through a project role apply only to the selected project and allow you to control who can view or manage project-related items.

        

Each security role includes a set of sections (management tree nodes) for which permissions can be configured. For each section, you can assign one of the following permission levels:

• None – No access.

• Read – View access only. Users can view information but cannot make any changes.

• Write – Allows users to create and modify existing data, but not delete it.

• Full – Grants complete access, including the ability to delete data.

At the bottom of the Security window, you'll find a description of each section along with the permissions available for that section, helping you determine the appropriate access level for each role.

Create a Custom Role

SurveyToGo includes several built-in Organization and Project roles. While these built-in roles cannot be modified, you can create custom roles that are tailored to your organization's specific security requirements.

To create a custom role:

1. Click Add Organization Role to create a new organization-level role, or Add Project Role to create a new project-level role.

2. Enter a name for the new role.

3. Configure the appropriate permissions for each section.

4. Save the role. It can then be assigned to users or groups as needed.

       

 

Note: For a detailed description of the available security roles, permissions, and assignments, see the Security Roles & Assignments Definitions section at the end of this article.

Remove a Custom Role

You can delete any custom role that you have created. Built-in roles cannot be removed.

To remove a custom role, select the role in the list and click Remove Role.

 

Security Assignments

The Security Assignments section allows you to assign an Organization role to each user or group.

The assignment window includes a smart grid that lets you view, search, and filter users, groups, and roles, making it easy to see who has which permissions.

The window is divided into three sections:

• Users & Groups – Displays all users and groups in the organization.

• Security Roles – Displays all available organization security roles, including both built-in and custom roles.

• Preview – Displays the permissions and access rights assigned to the currently selected security role.

 

Assign a User or Group to a Default Role

To assign a built-in or custom Organization or Project role to a user or group:

1. In the Users & Groups section, select the user or group you want to assign a role to.

2. In the Security Roles section, select the role you want to assign.

3. Click Assign Selected.

4. Click Save Changes to apply the assignment.

Note: Default roles can be assigned to either individual users or groups.

When a default project role is assigned, it is automatically applied to newly created projects. Existing projects are not affected.

Remove a Default Role Assignment

To remove a default role from a user or group:

1. In the Users & Groups section, select the user or group.

2. In the assigned roles list on the right, select the role you want to remove.

3. Click Unassign Selected.

4. Click Save Changes to apply the changes.

Please note:

• You can assign or unassign roles for multiple users at the same time by holding the Shift key while selecting the users.

• A user or group can be assigned to multiple roles. The Preview pane displays the combined permissions and access rights granted by the selected role.

Tip: To display only users or groups that currently have role assignments, select the Show only users/groups with permissions checkbox in the upper-right corner of the window.

 

Organization Security Administrators Privileges

Users who have privileges to the security node can review and assign Project Roles to users/groups in a bulk action by right clicking on the ‘Security Assignment’ node

Assign Project Security Roles to Users

1. Choose ‘Assign Project Security Roles to Users’
2. In the window shown – choose the users/groups you would like to assign the role to and click Next  

3. Choose the project/s that you would like to assign and click Next

4. Choose the project Role you would like to assign and click Next

5. Review your data and click Finish

Please note: If the list of users/projects is long you can start typing the name you wish to search for in the filter box

View/Remove Assigned Project Security Roles

This view shows you a matrix of all the security roles (project and organization) and the users/groups assigned.

You can filter by:

1. Customer
2. Project
3. User Type
4. Name
5. Role Name

If you would like to un-assign/Remove one of these option check the ‘Remove’ and click on ‘un-assign’

In the confirmation message click ‘Yes’

 

Project Administrator Privileges

How to assign a project role as a Project Administrator

1. Navigate to the Project you would like to assign
2. Right click and choose ‘Security Settings’  

3. In the Window Assign the rights (In the same way as assigning a user to a role)  

4. Click on Save Changes

Show/Un-Show Unassigned Projects in the Main Nodes

You can control and define whether or not a user can see the nodes he doesn’t have access to or get an error message.

1. Right click on the organization name
2. Choose Organization Properties
     

3. Navigate to the ‘Advanced’ Tab
4. Check the ‘Hide Nodes For Which User Doesn’t Have Access To’ – checked is the default setting.  

 

Security Roles & Assignments

We have concentrated the Roles-Section-Rights definitions here

Organization Security Roles Assignments

Section	Description	None	Read	Write	Full
Additional Data Lists	Controls the Access to the 'Additional Data Lists' screens	Doesn't Allow Access	Can View the list	Allows Viewing, Editing, Creating new	Same As 'Write' but also Allows to delete existing lists
Assignments	Controls the Access to the 'Organizations Tasks' screens that enables Viewing tasks data	Doesn't Allow Access	Allows Viewing the organization tasks grid.	Allows Viewing, changing the task details/Assignments	Same As 'Write' but Allows also to delete tasks
Create Customers & Projects	Controls the Access to the customers & projects in the organization	Doesn't Allow Access	Allows Viewing of all the customers & projects node	Same As 'Read' but Allows creating new customers/projects	Same As 'Write' but allows also Deleting of customers/projects
Dashboards	Controls the access to the 'KPI's' and 'Fieldwork Reports' screens that enable generating Dashboards and Fieldwork reports from the operational data	Doesn't Allow Access	Allows Access to the  'KPI's' and 'Fieldwork Reports' screens	Same as 'Read'	Same as 'Read'
GPS Tracking - Show Latest	Controls the Access to the 'GPS Tracking'	Doesn't Allow Access	Allows Access to the GPS Tracking	Same As 'Read' Access	Same As 'Write' Access
GPS Tracking - Show Route	Controls the Access to the 'GPS Tracking'	Doesn't Allow Access	Allows Access to the GPS Tracking	Same As 'Read' Access	Same As 'Write' Access
Library - Organization Scripts	Controls the Access to the organization function code libraries screens	Doesn't Allow Access	Allows Viewing the library code	Allows both Viewing and Modifying code	Same As 'Write'
Locations	Controls the Access to the 'Locations' node of the projects	Doesn't Allow Access	Allows Viewing all the 'Locations' nodes of projects	Same As 'Read' Access but Allows creating new location stores	Same As 'Write' but also Allows Deleting existing location stores
Operations	Controls the access to the 'Organizations Operations' screens that enables viewing interview data and performing quality control	Doesn't Allow Access	Allows Viewing the organization operations grid along with Reviewing the individual interview data	Allows Viewing the organization operations grid along with Reviewing the individual interview and changing the interview status & surveyor	Same As 'Write' but also Allows to delete existing interviews
Projects Overview	Controls the access to the 'Projects Overview' screen that gives a report of which project is in which stage	Doesn't Allow Access	Allows Viewing the 'Projects Overview' screen	Allows Viewing the 'Projects Overview' screen along with adding and changing project pipelines	Same as Write but also allows deleting project pipelines.
Security	Controls the Access to the security screens used to mange the security rights of Users and Groups	Doesn't Allow Access	Allows Viewing the security of Users, groups & roles	Allows Viewing, Modifying and creating new roles and assign roils to Users and Groups	Same As 'Write' but also Allows Deleting existing roles
Studio Users & Groups	Controls the Access to the 'studio Users & Groups' screens	Doesn't Allow Access	Allows Viewing the Users and Groups	Allows Viewing, Modifying and creating new Users and Groups	Same As 'Write' Access but also Allows Deleting Users.
Supervisor Users & Groups	Controls the Access to the 'Supervisor Users & Groups' screens	Doesn't Allow Access	Allows Viewing the Users and Groups	Allows Viewing, Modifying and creating new Users and Groups	Same As 'Write' Access but also Allows Deleting Users.
Surveyor Support	Controls the Access  to the "Support" screens	Doesn't Allow access to the 'Support' screens	Allows Viewing the support	Same as 'Read' access	Same as 'Read'
Surveyor Users & Groups	Controls the Access to the 'Surveyor Users & Groups' screens	Doesn't Allow Access	Allows Viewing the Users and Groups	Allows Viewing, Modifying and creating new Users and Groups	Same As 'Write' Access but also Allows Deleting Users.
SurveyToGo Account	Controls the Access to the 'My SurveyToGo Account' screens used to manage your account and view administrative reports	Doesn't Allow Access	Allows Viewing the account	Same As 'Read' Access	Same As 'Write' Access but also Allows archiving/Deleting storage data from the storage management screens
Version Management	Allows Setting the Studio/Android/PC Client Versions assigned to the organization and its users	Doesn't Allow Access to the 'Version Management' screen	Allows read access to the 'Version Management' screen	Allows the user to upgrade its own client versions	Allows the studio user to upgrade the organization default and organization users' client assignments.

Project Security Roles Assignments

Section	Description	None	Read	Write	Full
3-Way Subject Assignments	Controls the Access to the survey/surveyor/subjectstore item Assignments	Doesn't Allow Access	Allows Viewing the Assignments	Allows both Viewing and Modifying the Assignments	Same As 'Write' Access but also Allows Deleting Assignments
Assignments	Controls the Access to the Assignments screens which are part of the premium Task System	Doesn't Allow Access	Allows Viewing both batches and tasks and Assignments	Allows Viewing both batches and tasks and Assignments and also creating new batches/tasks and making new Assignments	Same As 'Write' Access but also Allows Deleting tasks/batches and Assignments
CAWI Participants List	Controls the access to the 'CAWI Participants' node in a project	Don't Allow Access	Allows viewing all the 'CAWI Participants' nodes of the project but doesn't allow creating new lists	Same as 'Read' access but also allows creating new 'CAWI Participants' stores but doesn't allow deleting existing lists	Same as 'Write' access but also allows deleting existing CAWI Participants stores
Collected Attachments	Controls the Access to the 'Collected Attachments' screens that enable archiving attachments on a project level	Doesn't Allow Access	Allows Viewing the reports but not archiving the attachments	Same As 'Read'	Allows Viewing the reports and also archiving the attachments
Collected Data	Controls the Access to the 'Collected Data' screens that enable exporting the interviews data to a data output file	Doesn't Allow Access	Allows generating the export file to any of the supported formats along with quick view and export of the survey itself	Same As 'Read', but also Allows the ability to use the option to change the status of the data after export.	Same As 'Write' Access but also Allows using the option to delete the data after export
Collected Data - PII	Controls the Access to the 'Collected Data' screens that enable exporting the interviews data that are marked as Personally Identifiable Information to a data output file	Doesn't Allow Access	Allows generating the export file to any of the supported formats along with quick view and export of the survey itself	Same As 'Read', but also Allows the ability to use the option to change the status of the data after export.	Same As 'Write' Access but also Allows using the option to delete the data after export
Dashboards	Controls the Access to the 'KPI's' and 'Fieldwork Reports' screens that enable generating Dashboards and Fieldwork reports from the operation data.	Doesn't Allow Access	Allows Access to the 'KPI's' and 'Fieldwork Reports' screens	Same As 'Read'